May 15, 2003
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THIS WEEK
San Diego State concludes its 2003 regular season this week with a three-game series vs. New Mexico at home.
The Aztecs and Lobos open on Thursday (May 15) evening at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The teams will then play a doubleheader on Friday (May 16) starting at 1:00 p.m.
The third game of the series was originally scheduled for Saturday (May 18) at 1:00 p.m. However, SDSU graduation ceremonies slated for Tony Gwynn Stadium on the 18th preclude the teams from playing that day.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The 2002 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament will take place May 21-24 at the new Isotopes Stadium in Albuquerque, N.M.
The tourney is a double elimination event with the first-round pairings determined by the final conference standings.
Tickets may be purchased in advance by contacting the University of New Mexico Ticket Office at 1-800-905-3315 or 505-925-5626.
Further information is available at the Mountain West Conference web site (www.themwc.com).
TOURNEY SEEDING POSSIBILITIES
If the conference standings were to end as they are now, San Diego State would enter the event as the number-four seed (and play Brigham Young in the first round) by virtue of its current fourth-place position entering the week.
SDSU could still finish anywhere from second to fourth in the final standings. To move up, the Aztecs would have to sweep New Mexico this week at home to conclude the regular season. That would put the Aztecs into third place over the Lobos. They could only move into the second spot if Brigham Young drops one of its three contests at Air Force this week.
The only seedings that have been determined at this point are that UNLV will be the top seed by virtue of winning the regular-season title and will play Air Force (which will finish sixth) in the first round of the tournament.
THROUGH THE YEARS
This year marks the 65th season of Aztec baseball since the sport was elevated to major status in 1936. The school did not field varsity teams from 1943 to 1945.
SDSU's all-time record entering the week (since 1936) stands at 1990-1203-37 (.622).
Since 1936, the program has had only four head coaches: Charlie Smith (1936-64), Lyle Olson (1965-71), Jim Dietz (1972-2002) and Tony Gwynn (present).
SERIES RECORDS
San Diego State holds a 74-33 advantage over New Mexico in a series that began during the 1960 season.
Since both teams joined the Mountain West Conference in 2000, SDSU's record against the Lobos stands at 16-7. That mark includes 21 regular-season meetings along with a pair of contests at the annual conference tournament.
The Aztecs have won 11 of the last 14 meetings between the team.
San Diego State's record vs. UNM on the Lobos' home field stands at 27-19. The Aztecs are 45-13 against New Mexico in San Diego and they have won two of the three games played at neutral sites.
SCOUTING THE LOBOS
New Mexico begins the week with an overall record of 34-21 and 17-10 in the Mountain West Conference. Entering the final week of the season, the Lobos are in second place, a game ahead of Brigham Young and two games in front of SDSU in the MWC standings.
UNM is led on offense by center fielder Cory Lizarraga (.392, 21 2B, 9 HR, 47 RBI), right fielder Sean Murray (.385, 19 2B, 7 HR, 56 RBI) and shortstop Dusty Young (.385, 25 doubles, 8 HR, 65 RBI). First baseman Matt Alexander has 25 home runs and 91 runs batted in over 55 games, both conference records. His average of .45 homers per game ranks second in the country among Division I players. As a team, the Lobos are hitting a league-leading .352, a mark that ranks second in the nation this week.
New Mexico's pitching rotation for this weekend is expected to be:
Thur. - J. Vermilyea (RHP, 7-2, 3.77)Fri. - Kris Gross (RHP, 6-3, 7.71)Fri. - Darren Coltrinari (RHP, 3-3, 6.75)
The Lobo's top reliever is Matt Bullen, who has recorded five wins (all in relief) along with a pair of saves. Only two lefties appear on the UNM roster: Adrian Soto (3-2, 4.66) and Joe Salas (1-5, 6.56).
MOST RECENTLY
Last weekend, SDSU dropped two of three league games at Brigham Young.
The Aztecs won the opener, 9-5, behind the hitting of Anthony Gwynn and Rielly Embrey, who both went 5-for-5. Gwynn scored three times while Embrey had a double, home run and six runs batted in. Mike Moat (5-5) picked up the win, going six innings. A one hour, 18 minute rain delay after the sixth inning brought Daryl Harang out of the bullpen, and the junior lefty finished the game to pick up his first save.
Game two saw Brigham Young score five times in the fifth to break open a close contest as it went on to the 9-5 victory. Landon Burt and Chad Corona had two hits apiece for the Aztecs while Kyle Floquet knocked in a pair of runs. Senior Joe Carque suffered the loss to fall to 4-5 on the season.
In the series finale, SDSU scored four times in the first inning, but failed to take advantage of a couple of excellent scoring chances in the middle innings as the Cougars came back to win the game, 5-4. Freshman lefty Ben Coon went 5.2 innings, taking the loss to even his record at 4-4. James Guerrero had three hits to lead the Aztec offense while Garrett Cook had two hits including a double and two RBI.
HEAD COACH TONY GWYNN
Tony Gwynn was hired as SDSU's head baseball coach on September 20, 2001. Last year he served as a volunteer coach for the Aztecs under Jim Dietz, who retired at the end of the 2002 season.
A former Aztec who played baseball at San Diego State from 1979 to 1981, Gwynn was a two-time all-American outfielder who finished his SDSU career with a .398 batting average. He also played basketball for four years at San Diego State, and holds the school's single-game, season and career assist records.
Gwynn concluded a 20-year major league career with the San Diego Padres in 2001. With a career batting average of .338, he won eight National League batting titles, five Gold Gloves, and made 15 appearances in the annual All-Star Game.
AZTEC PITCHING ROTATION
SDSU's pitching rotation for this week is expected to be as follows:
Thur. - Mike Moat (RHP, 5-5, 4.31)Fri. - Joe Carque (RHP, 4-5, 5.22)Fri. - Ben Coon (LHP, 4-4, 5.35)
GWYNN GETS OFFENSIVE
Junior Anthony Gwynn has hit safely in 20 of SDSU's last 22 games. Over that span he is batting .446 (45-for-101) with 16 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, nine doubles and two triples.
Over his last seven games, he has gone 18-for-32 (.563).
His .403 average in Mountain West Conference play ranks third in the league this week. He has struck out just 20 times this season in 258 plate appearances, an average of once every 13 at bats.
He has also been a defensive standout in center this season for the Aztecs. He has made four full-out diving catches of balls in the gap that have saved several runs in close games. He leads the team's outfielders with six assists.
Gwynn leads the team in steals with 24 and triples with five. He is second in runs scored with 42. He is the only Aztec to have started all 53 games this season.
CORONA MINI-STREAK
Junior third baseman Chad Corona has hit safely in each of his last five games and has the team's current longest hitting streak.
Over those five contests, he has gone 7-for-19 (.368) with three doubles and four runs scored.
COOK DOUBLES UP
Senior Garrett Cook appears to have a knack for hitting doubles. Of his 38 hits this season, 17 have been two-baggers.
His 17 doubles leads the team even though he has appeared in only 41 games (32 starts) this season.
Cook has hit safely in five of his last six contests and 11 of SDSU's last 13 games. Over those 13 contests, he has gone 20-for-52 (.385) with 13 runs scored, 17 RBI, six doubles, a triple and a home run. He has raised his batting average 62 points over that span. In those nine games, his on-base percentage is .475.
Cook has also been solid defensively while playing both first and third base. He has committed just two errors this season (while at third) and is fielding .986 on the year.
During the 2003 season, he is batting .342 in the designated hitter role, tops among Aztec players.
COON REBOUNDS
After a trio of rough outings, Ben Coon responded with three good outings in his most recent appearances.
In his start at Riverside on April 29, he gave up three runs in four innings of work. Although the runs were earned officially, an error contributed to keeping the inning alive.
Coon had arguably his best outing of the season against UNLV on May 4. He pitched 6.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits while striking out two.
Last Saturday at Brigham Young, he was the losing pitcher in the 5-4 defeat, but was victimized by a misjudged fly ball in the outfield that allowed two runs to score.
On the year, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than three-to-one (56 Ks-16 BB).
GUERRERO AMONG OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Freshman shortstop James Guerrero has been one of the team's offensive leaders in 2003. He has reached base safely (either via a hit or base on balls) in 47 of the 48 games in which he has played with the exception of the March 28 contest at UNLV.
He has drawn a walk in four of SDSU's last five games. He has also scored six runs in his last four contests.
His 34 walks leads the team and is 12 more than the next highest individual total. His season on-base percentage stands at .420. He is batting .364 with runners in scoring position and has recorded 13 two-out RBIs this season.
Guerrero is also proving himself as a hitter in his first year at SDSU, batting .312 with 10 doubles, three triples, two homers and a team-leading 34 runs batted in. In addition, he leads the squad with 44 runs scored.
JENSON CONTINUES EXCELLENT PITCHING
Junior lefty Drew Jenson, who has made 14 relief appearances this season, leads the SDSU pitching staff in wins with seven while suffering just one loss. He also has a team best three saves.
He notched his first career save as an Aztec in the team's 2-1 win over Brigham Young on April 3, throwing the final 1.2 innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. He picked up saves number two and three last in the doubleheader sweep vs. Utah in Salt Lake City on April 19.
He recorded his seventh win of the season in the shutout of UNLV on May 4, allowing one hit over the final 2.1 innings. In two appearances against the MWC regular-season champs this season, Jenson has pitched 7.2 innings, allowing four hits while striking out seven
His earned run average now stands at 2.52 this season.
Last weekend at BYU, he threw the final 2.1 innings in the series finale, allowing no runs and striking out three.
HARANG PROVIDING RELIEF
Junior lefty Daryl Harang picked up his first career save as an Aztecs in the 11-4 win over Brigham Young last Friday.
Over his last five relief appearances, he has allowed just one run (none earned) over 10.1 innings. He has walked three and struck out six over that span.
EMBREY STREAKING
After hitting just two home runs in his first two seasons at SDSU, junior first baseman Rielly Embrey leads the team this year with seven.
Included in that number is his first two-home run game, which came on April 27 in the win at Air Force. He had five RBI in that game, an Aztec season high until he recorded six last Friday at BYU.
He had a nine-game hitting streak ended in the second game of last Friday's doubleheader at Brigham Young. During his steak, he batted .471 (16-for-34) with nine runs scored, 12 runs batted in, two doubles and three home runs.
He has committed only two errors at first base this season for a .994 fielding percentage.
EMBREY HONORED
Rielly Embrey has been named to the 2003 Verizon District VIII All-Academic team.
He is a kinesiology major with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average at SDSU.
BURT BATTLES ON
Outfielder Landon Burt is among the team leaders in hitting with a .331 average overall as well as in league play where he is batting .380.
He has 22 walks and 20 strikeouts, and is the only Aztec to have walked more times than struck out this season. His on-base percentage is a team-leading .447 in all games and .477 in league contests.
Burt was hit by pitch twice vs. USD on April 22 to bring his season total to 10. The SDSU record is 12, set by teammate Jon Stephens last season.
STEALING AWAY
SDSU has been successful on 72.9% of its stolen base attempts this season.
The Aztecs have not run as much this year as in past seasons. The team total of 51 steals is on pace to set the mark for fewest since San Diego State joined Division I for the 1969 season.
The record for lowest stolen base total in a season since 1969 is 60 during the 1975 campaign.
TONY GWYNN STADIUM
The Aztecs' home facility has been ranked 17th in the nation in a poll by Baseball America.
It ranks as the fourth-best in the western U.S. behind stadiums at Stanford, Arizona State and Hawaii.
Tony Gwynn Stadium was ranked 15th in a poll of college baseball Sports Information Directors. Again, the park was fourth in the west, this time behind Hawaii, Stanford and Fresno State.
Since the facility opened for the 1997 season, San Diego State's record there stands at 123-74 (.624).
The Aztecs have had two of the largest crowds in the seven-year history of Tony Gwynn Stadium this season.
AZTEC NOTES
Anthony Gwynn leads the Aztecs with 22 multiple-hit games. Jake McLintock and Garrett Cook share the team lead with eight multiple-RBI contests.
Anthony Gwynn's 24 stolen bases leads the league in all games while his nine thefts in MWC games ranks third this week.
Outfielder David Hall is 30for-8 in his last three games, hitting safely in each of those contests with a double and two runs scored.
Senior Garrett Cook leads the club with 17 two-out RBIs. McLintock and Rielly Embrey have 14 while Gwynn and James Guerrero have 13 apiece.
Although its fielding percentage on the year stands at .959, San Diego State put together back-to-back errorless games for only the first time this season in last Friday's doubleheader at BYU.
Sophomore Jake McLintock has been excellent defensively for SDSU in right field for the second year in a row. He has just one error this season (.991 fielding percentage) with five assists after committing just one miscue as a freshman in 2002 (with six assists and a .990 fielding mark).
Senior side-armer David Levy has another good relief outing last Friday at BYU. He threw one inning of shutout ball with one strikeout. He has given up one run in five appearances (6.1 innings) this season.
Rielly Embrey and Anthony Gwynn have the only five-hit games for SDSU this season. The Aztecs have had four-hit games by six players: Jordan Swaydan, Landon Burt, Josh Allen, James Guerrero, Chad Corona and Anthony Gwynn.
The Aztecs have been successful on 18-of-25 (72%) stolen base attempts in conference play. Opponents have stolen 22-of-41 (53.6%).
Freshman Curt Mendoza is 4-for-12 with five runs batted in over his last four starts.
SDSU has recorded 23 triples this season compared to just nine by opponents. In nine league games, the Aztecs have 10 three-baggers to five by foes. However, the Aztecs have gone 11 games without a triple after hitting three at University of San Diego on April 22.
The Aztecs have executed only 14 sacrifice bunts this season, and have not employed that strategy in their last dozen contests. The record for fewest in a season (since SDSU joined Division I in 1969) is 26 on three occasions (1980, 1981, 1989).